Don't Bet Area Stations Will Pick Up Lottery

Broadcast News

Lottery fever isn't likely to strike area TV stations this summer when state officials seek bids for the rights to broadcast the daily live lottery drawing.

Since the inception of Pick 3 two years ago, the nightly Pick 3 and twice-weekly Lotto drawings have been televised on public TV stations, including WHRO, Channel 15, in Norfolk. The contract with the public stations expires in September, at which time lottery officials want to consider switching to commercial stations, said Virginia Lottery Public Information Director Paula Otto.

"It could get us exposure to more people," Otto said of the nightly drawings, which air Monday through Saturday at 7:58 p.m. and again Saturday at 10:58 p.m. "With all the people playing on-line games, it would be a good lead-in to prime-time shows."

On April 19, Virginia Lottery officials met with executives of each Hampton Roads commercial station and asked that they submit a bid this summer. The lottery will pay an undisclosed amount for the air time, but the stations are being asked to provide additional time to promote special lottery-related events, Otto said.

Broadcast rights will be awarded based on the station's viewership numbers and it's willingness to promote lottery events, Otto said. There's also a chance public stations will keep the drawings, she added.

Some area stations questioned the need for a lottery partnership. Each commercial station now announces winning lottery numbers during breaks between shows and on its newscasts.

Mark Young, sales manager for WVEC, Channel 13, said his station would have to weigh the benefits of airing the live drawing with the costs of losing advertising time. "It has to mean as much to us as it does to them," he said.

At WTKR, Channel 3, the cost of a one-minute commercial airing at 7:58 p.m. ranges usually from $1,500 to $2,500, said Christopher PIke, general manager.

Pike questioned whether the drawings would lead to an increase in viewers. "I don't know if there's an ongoing effect or if people just watch once in a while when there's a large jackpot," he said.

WHRO won't be too disappointed if it loses the drawings, said spokeswoman Donna Hudgins. "We have not observed any significant impact on viewership one way or the other," Hudgins said, who added that WHRO receives about $50,000 annually from the Virginia Lottery to air the drawings.

The state's public stations have bid to keep the lottery, Hudgins added.

RADIO RATINGS: The Gulf War apparently resulted in more radio listeners tuning in to news-oriented stations, according to the latest Arbitron ratings.

Two AM news stations showed strong increases in listener numbers in the ratings, which were released Wednesday. Both news-talk station WNIS-AM (850) and CNN Headline News station WGH-AM (1310) - which changed its format to country once the war ended - attracted a greater percentage of listeners than in the previous ratings period.

Curiously, news-oldies station WTAR-AM (790) showed a slight drop in listeners. None of the AM stations cracked the top 10 for the market.

The ratings, which measured listening habits for the period from Jan. 3 to March 27, brought no changes at the top. Urban station WOWI-FM (102.9) continued to lead, with country station WCMS-FM (100.5) and easy-listening station WFOG-FM (92.9) taking their familiar positions in second and third.

Rock stations didn't fare as well. Classic rock station WAFX-FM (106.9) dropped from third to seventh. Rock station WNOR-FM (98.7), the ratings leader last year, came in a disappointing fifth.

Starting in June, the low-powered religious station will air from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. each day on cable Channel 2 in Hampton, said General Manager William Day of Warner Cable. The station will share time with the PTL Network, which now airs around the clock on that channel.

WJCB's local programming and signal improvements convinced Warner to carry the station, Day said.

WJCB airs three local programs: a community affairs show called "In Our Hometown," a prayer program and a religious show from area churches, said WJCB General Manager Dwight Green. The station also is seen on Cox Cable Channel 49 in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach.

Newport News CableVision and other cable systems have yet to pick up the station. "We're still working on the others," Green said.

WEATHERMAN ALERT: On May 1, jocular weatherman Mark McEwen of "CBS This Morning" will do his forecasts live from Colonial Williamsburg.

McEwen's itinerary is still being worked out, said Philip Armstrong, promotions director with WTKR. The show's producers are considering using a macaw from Busch Gardens that can sing "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," Armstrong said. The melody is used as the theme song of "CBS This Morning."